100,000 German jobs at risk from ‘hard Brexit’
FRANKFURT: The United Kingdom leaving the European Union (EU) without an exit deal would jeopardise 100,000 jobs in Germany, according to a study by Halle IWH, one of the country’s leading economic institutes.
The most affected areas would be Volkswagen
AG’s hometown of
Wolfsburg, and Dingolfing-Landau, the site of BMW AG’s largest German factory, said Welt am Sonntag, which published the study.
“The employment effect of a hard Brexit would be felt above all in the automotive industry,” Oliver Holtemoeller, one of the study’s authors, told the German newspaper.
Because of Germany’s reliance on exports, no other country in the EU would be more affected, according to Holtemoeller.
Meanwhile, in Amsterdam, the Dutch government said on Saturday it was in talks with 250 firms about moving operations to the Netherlands from Britain ahead of Britain’s exit from the EU, scheduled for March 29.
The Economic Affairs Ministry said in a report that a recruitment programme had brought 42 companies or branch offices and 1,923 jobs from Britain to the Netherlands last year.
The report named Japanese investment bank Norinchukin, media company TVT Media, financial services providers MarketAxess and Azimo, and maritime insurer P&I Club among movers that had not yet been reported.
“This year, several firms, including Discovery and Bloomberg, had already announced their intention to invest in the Netherlands because of Brexit,” said the ministry.
“Additionally, the Netherlands Foreign Investment Agency is talking with more than 250 foreign companies considering setting up operations in the Netherlands following Brexit,” it said.
It said most were British, but some were American or Asian firms reconsidering their European branch structures.
“These include firms in the financial sector, media and advertising, health and life sciences and logistics,” it said.
The employment effect of a hard Brexit would be felt above all in the automotive industry. OLIVER HOLTEMOELLER
Halle IWH study author